


Cross-Curricular Seminars on Gemology, Finality, and Friendship

by Yellow_Bird_On_Richland



Series: It's different and it's working, oh, you make me nervous (the Annie/Britta AU Collection) [6]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Britta Perry, Britta is soft for her girlfriend what else is new, Established Annie/Britta Relationship, F/F, Multi, lesbian Annie Edison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29935068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellow_Bird_On_Richland/pseuds/Yellow_Bird_On_Richland
Summary: Britta has more experience than Annie in this arena, technically.In being engaged.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Britta Perry, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: It's different and it's working, oh, you make me nervous (the Annie/Britta AU Collection) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835497
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'd initially thought this was going to be short enough to be contained in one chapter, but that turned out not to be the case.

Britta has more experience than Annie in this arena, technically. In being engaged. Even if said engagements between herself and Jeff lasted for roughly three hours total.

She and Annie have discussed it in some detail, over a handful of dinners and late nights, since she moved to D.C. a bit over a year and a half ago. The idea of getting married.

Still. Taking this next step will give her desire a shape, a permanence, that she almost can't believe she wants, considering her history.

" _Well,"_ Britta reasons with herself, _"your history didn't have an Annie in it until Greendale."_

She's kinda stunned at how thinking about her long-time girlfriend makes this easier, rather than terrifying.

" _No time like the present."_

She launches a Hail Mary text to Troy and Abed while she's starting dinner, like it's nothing: _I need your potential help on a sensitive matter. AKA Annie can't know I asked you this._

Troy: _What's up? And we can't know what Annie can't know until you tell us what she can't know._

Abed: _Is this a test of our loyalty? Should we be worried?_

Britta: _No to both of your questions, Abed. And Troy, I doubt you'll have this info, but I figured I'd take a shot anyway._

Her phone's cursor blinks insistently. She takes a breath and types her message, reviews it for a second, then hits send.

_Do either of you, on the slightest off-chance, know Annie's ring size?_

She spazzes at the incoming call and nearly fumbles her phone into the pot of water she'd just put on for mac and cheese.

"Abed?"

"Hey, Britta. Oh, right, random phone calls instead of texts were your thing back in the day. My bad."

Troy chimes in, "Anyway, about the intel you requested." He hesitates for a second, conversing with Abed, then hops back on the line. "We're guessing Annie's still at work?"

"On her way home," Britta responds. "But she's still about fifteen minutes out, at least."

"Alright, that's good," Troy replies. "Since she shouldn't be around for this discussion."

Abed follows up, with stunning nonchalance, "And we do have her ring size. Or at least, what it was as of roughly a month ago, from the one campaign she dropped in on as a visiting mage."

"Oh, yeah, we needed the ring to access the hidden temple's inner sanctum for the secret spell books and you wanted to get Annie's size for accuracy," Troy remembers.

Britta freezes for a second, then answers slowly, to confirm, "So you're saying you have my girlfriend's ring size thanks to a DnD conquest?"

"Yep!" Troy responds-she can nearly see the pleased grin on his face-and Abed adds, "I think I wrote it down in our game notes and told Annie to include it in her character sheet, too. I'll double-check later on and text you."

Britta shakes her head in disbelief. "Have I ever mentioned how much I love you guys? Because it's a lot."

"We know," they chorus, and she laughs at the sound of them completing their signature handshake on the other end of the line.

"So it's fair to assume you're gonna ask for Annie's hand in marriage sometime, then?" Abed wonders.

"That sounds like a super 1950s way of saying it, but...yeah." Britta's cheeks flush pink at the admission as she retrieves a box of elbow noodles from the pantry, and both the boys cheer, "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, you guys! And I just realized, isn't it, like, a bit after 2 in LA?" Britta frowns. "How are you both home, or wherever you are, together?"

"We decided to have a long weekend for a little stay-cation," Abed notes. "There are no federal holidays in June, so we took off today to celebrate…" he pauses. "What did we pick, Troy?"

"Robert La Follette Sr. Day, buddy. He's some famous, dead politician from Wisconsin. Seemed like as good a holiday as any."

Britta rolls her eyes with genuine fondness. _"You can take the nerds out of Greendale, but you can't take Greendale out of the nerds."_

She calls to them, as she starts shredding a block of cheddar cheese, "Could you please text me the ring size details if you find them, Abed? And I owe ya one."

"We're holding you to that, and sure. Feel free to keep us abreast of the whole engagement situation when you can."

She hears what sounds like a hasty, fake cough. "Was Troy laughing at your use of abreast, Abed?"

"No!" Troy protests while Abed answers, "Yes, of course he was."

"Never change, you two. Never change," Britta sighs happily. "Thanks again."

She takes a second to sit-a watched pot never boils, after all-and consider the enormity of what she's planning.

" _No big deal, prepping to ask your girlfriend to marry you sometime in the semi-near future,"_ she thinks wryly.

They've discussed the topic here and there, of course, and neither of them had any doubts or reservations about their future together, but with Britta only moving to D.C. about a year ago and both of them focusing on climbing their respective career ladders, they'd put the wedding talk on pause, mostly.

" _And here you are, planning to buy a ring. And you're not freaking out?"_ another part of her asks.

" _Why would I be? Well, besides sticker shock on the price, maybe. But, money aside, I wanna intertwine our lives that closely. And I'm pretty positive Annie feels the same way."_

Britta knows her younger self would be rebelling against such talk, against the idea of "compromising her independence" or something. But her younger self, her pre-Greendale and even early Greendale self, had never been with someone like Annie before. Someone who makes the idea of forever both colorful and comforting, rather than boring and routine. Someone who makes her wanna strive for better things in all aspects of her life. Though she can only sometimes get behind the idea of exercising on early weekday mornings, and she can't take salad to work more than three out of five days a week without it turning into a meal of shredded cheese and croutons.

Annie's arrival home and the subsequent opening of their apartment door snaps her out of her reflections, even as she'd started cooking up their faux buffalo chicken mac and cheese.

"Hey, babe." She's pleased to see Annie didn't have a stack of case files under her arm as she shut the door behind her; working overtime is occasionally a fact of life for both of them.

"Hey, you." Annie presses a quick kiss to Britta's lips and gives a pleased hum at the ingredients laid out on their kitchen island. "Thanks for getting dinner going, I'm starving. Did you have a good day?"

"Pretty decent, for a Monday. Troy and Abed say hi."

"Did they text you? I didn't see anything in our group chat."

"They called me," Britta answers, then wonders why she's blabbing about this considering she very much has to keep the contents of their discussion a secret. "They, um, took the day off since there aren't any federal holidays in June and gave me a call earlier since they knew you were still at work. They're celebrating Robert La Follette Sr. Day as an excuse for a staycation."

"And Robert what's-his-face is…?"

"Some famous, deceased politician in Wisconsin," she shrugs.

"Who else besides Troy and Abed would just pick a random holiday like that to celebrate a day off?" Annie laughs. "You can take the nerds out of Greendale, but you can't take Greendale out of the nerds."

" _It's nice, being so in sync with your significant other,"_ Britta thinks fondly as she comments, "That's what I said earlier."

"We really should look into having them come visit for a little vacation sometime, maybe a long weekend or something," Annie muses as she drains the pasta. "I know we're all busy, but Abed moving up to an assistant director role gives him a little more flexibility now, and Troy can do a lot of work with his foundation remotely."

"Yeah, that would be fun." Britta pulls the breaded faux chicken strips out of the oven, slices them up, and tosses them into the sauce Annie had just finished whipping up.

"Hey, Britta?" Annie asks as they're cleaning after dinner.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd Abed text you a picture of a DnD character sheet? I just saw it pop up on your phone since it's over here charging." She points at the counter that she's wiping down with a rag and their kitchen spray cleaner.

"Oh," _shit, shit, shit, come up with something,_ "he mentioned that I could join a campaign as, like, a part-time side character if I wanted while we were talking earlier. He put together that sheet as a potential option for me."

Annie frowns. "I didn't think you were that into DnD."

"It's a game with some people who are new to it who might be, um, less serious players. That's why he'd asked me. I doubt I'll do it, though."

"Ah." Annie nods. "Got it."

Thankfully, she drops the discussion after that, and Britta pockets her phone once she texts Abed back: _You're a lifesaver! Wasn't sure how I'd get this otherwise. Thanks again!_

" _One step down. However many more to go,"_ she thinks.

**

Britta realizes pretty quickly that knowing her girlfriend's ring size doesn't mean squat when she doesn't know what kind of ring she'd want. She has a general idea, of course; Annie's never been into crazy fancy jewelry and usually prefers more minimalist accent pieces, as far as bracelets, necklaces, and earrings go. But Britta's usually gotten either direct hints or at least guideposts when buying those types of gifts before. Flying blind for an engagement ring strikes her as a singularly terrible idea.

She's not sure why she calls Jeff of all people to talk about this on a Saturday night on her way home from happy hour drinks with her co-workers, since she's about ninety-five percent sure he hadn't bought an engagement ring at any point for either of their two attempts at moving toward matrimony. But they usually catch up over the phone at least once a month, anyway, and she hasn't talked to him yet. With Annie passing on this particular evening out, Britta figures it's not a bad time to reach out, so she calls him through her car's Bluetooth-the perks of finally leasing a sedan from this decade.

Jeff and Frankie had been busy dissuading Craig from making any outlandish additions to the latest draft of Greendale's budget for the upcoming academic year, per his increasingly distressed texts from late May and early June. But from when she'd last spoken to Jeff, at least, he'd sounded mildly optimistic that they'd wrangled their dear Dean in for once.

Jeff answers on the third ring. "Hey, Britta! Just a sec…"

She hears a "thanks, man," in the background from Jeff and the shutting of a door, followed by what sounds like excited clapping.

"What's going on over there?"

"I'm hosting a little end of the semester party to celebrate another year of surviving Greendale and making it marginally better," he answers. She's glad to catch a great more warmth than bitterness in his jovial voice. "Got Frankie, Craig, and Chang here, plus a build your own taco bar and a yumbo-sized pitcher of margaritas."

There are various yells of "Hi, Britta!" in the background, and she asks, bemused, "Did you all start emptying that pitcher already?"

"A little. None of us are getting too wild, although Chang's making noises about going somewhere to do karaoke later," he laughs. "So, what's up with you?"

Her voice sticks for a second before she can speak. "Kinda a lot, actually. I'm-"

She swallows. It's a bit harder to articulate this than to just answer a prompt like she had with Abed, but she wants to. She really wants to. So she does.

"I'm, uh, in the beginning stages of figuring out how to pop the question to Annie."

There's dead silence on the other end for a few seconds, and she wonders if one of their lines dropped before Jeff answers, "Wow! That's-that's something. Congrats, Britta!"

"Thanks! I'm still pretty fucking terrified, honestly," she confesses, "but...I mean, I think she's gonna say yes."

Jeff snorts. "Duh-doy. She's been crazy for you for how long now?"

Someone pipes up in the background, "Who's crazy for what?"

Jeff's tone gives away the half-grin, half-smirk he's undoubtedly wearing. "Wanna share with the class, or no?"

She nods. "Sure, why not. They'll all eventually find out, anyway."

Jeff calls to the group, and his herding of the cats-or, rather, the cats plus Frankie, who's practically never in need of shepherding-reminds Britta of how many times he'd done that for them.

"If I could get everyone's attention for a moment," he calls. "Britta's got an announcement. Or a life update. Or...whatever," he snorts, "you all get the point, I'm done being articulate and law teacher-y for now, it's the first week of summer break. You've got the floor, friend."

She suddenly feels a bit on the spot, and tells Jeff, "You remember I got, like, a B minus in public speaking, right?"

"As if you have to impress anyone here. Plus, they're all gonna be thrilled."

That helps, truly, and she takes a deep breath to settle her nerves before she tells all of them, "I'm gonna ask Annie to marry me!"

And amidst the cheers from her wonderful friends, Britta wonders when sharing that news will be common enough that it won't give her goosebumps.

She's still concerned about one rather significant aspect of this whole process, though, and once the celebration's died down a bit, she voices her worry.

"How do I know what kind of ring to buy, though? I don't think I can just outright ask that question without more or less giving my intention away."

There's a pause for a minute on the other end before Frankie's voice comes through. "Britta? Have you and Annie discussed getting married in any significant detail?"

"Yeah."

"How long ago did you start talking about it?"

She chews on her lower lip for a second, casting her thoughts back a bit. "Maybe six or seven months ago?"

"Okay, then. Knowing Annie, and knowing that this is clearly something you both want to happen, she's probably started considering that detail, if not some of the other ones, too."

She considers Frankie's reply as she pulls into their apartment's parking lot. "You're probably right. But where am I gonna find those?"

"Pinterest."

She's stunned to hear Jeff and Chang's voices overlap.

"And how do you two know that?"

"Because a Pinterest page can be like a massive online binder," Chang answers. "It's my go-to for new dinner recipes."

"And Jeffery's on Pinterest now as one of his updated, new age _flirting techniques_ because he's started _online dating,"_ Craig chimes in before Jeff very clearly pushes him aside. Not quickly enough, though, and Britta's cracking up.

"And," Frankie pipes up again after she's finished laughing, too, "with the fact that you're not on social media, maybe Annie's left her account open for viewing. If not, you could just...ask her to show you what she wants?"

"But then it wouldn't be-"

She's about to say "a surprise" when Jeff fills in the rest of her sentence, off speaker phone. "It'd still be a surprise since she wouldn't know when you bought it or when exactly you'd be asking. Plus, Frankie's idea sounds nice."

"It-it does," Britta admits before she teases, "Are you going soft in your old age, Winger?"

"If I'm old, you're getting the senior discount right along with me, Perry."

She laughs at his jab as she gets out of her car. "Listen, I've gotta go-just got home-but it was nice to catch up. Glad to hear you're doing well, along with everyone else."

"Yeah. Thanks for the call. And congrats again, Britta. I'm really happy for you and Annie. Lemme know if you need any help. Or sarcastic comments. I can offer those, too."

She knows the booze is making Jeff's voice a tiny bit extra warm, but it's mostly affection, and she's glad for that.

"Thanks, will do. Have fun with the rest of the gang. If you all go out for karaoke, take a video and send it to the group chat, okay?"

Jeff laughs. "Definitely. Talk to you later."

"Yep. Bye."

She wonders if Annie can tell what she's thinking about by how she pours herself into her kiss when she gets up to their apartment.

She wonders what it'd be like to have her say yes.

Britta would much rather ignore the other option, so she cedes control of her mind to her girlfriend. Cedes control of her body, too, until she can't do much more than gasp out Annie's name because she's ripped three orgasms out of her in a shade under twenty minutes.

"I was gonna say welcome home when you first got back, but that feels redundant now," Annie murmurs.

"You can say it anyway. I always wanna hear it. Always wanna be home with you."

"You always will be, Britts."

Annie's answer comes with a yawn, but the certainty in her voice helps Britta decide, _"I should look up jewelers in the area sometime tomorrow."_

**

It takes her a couple of weeks and another couple of discussions about their long-term future to work up the nerve to ask Annie about visiting Garland Jewelry and Diamonds.

The shop is about twenty-five minutes away via subway and a short walk. Not a big deal.

" _I'm just telling my girlfriend that I wanna be with her for the rest of our lives, ideally,"_ Britta thinks wryly over a weekend breakfast of biscuits, orange slices, and cereal. _"That's chill. One hundred percent chill."_

She mentions, after she's had enough coffee to wake up and formulate her thoughts, "I was thinking we could take a little trip sometime soon. Around here, I mean."

"Where to?" Annie asks as she finishes her last bite of biscuit.

"To Garland Jewelry and Diamonds. Or another, similar type of store, if you'd be interested."

"For what, exactly?"

The sleepiness has vanished from Annie's voice, and there's a slight tremor to it that both excites and scares Britta.

She forges on, though she's not quite ready to say what she's thinking out loud. "Something for you."

"Something for me," Annie repeats. "And would this...something be a bit of jewelry you'd eventually want, too?"

 _"Should've known she would figure it out immediately,"_ Britta thinks before she answers, "Yes. It would be."

"Okay. Okay, then. That's, um-I'm gonna go shower and-and think about that."

Annie deposits her cereal bowl and her plate into the dishwasher with a bit of a clatter, her movements gaining the tightness that comes with her anxiety striking, so Britta catches her before she dashes off to the bathroom.

"Babe. We don't have to-"

She pauses, reconsiders saying "We don't have to commit to anything," because _that_ sentence could be taken horribly, and finds another way forward.

"We'd just be browsing," Britta reassures her. "Whenever we go. No pressure, no timeline. We can figure it out together."

Annie draws in a deep breath, relaxes into her arms. "Yeah. That would help me a lot. I can show you some rings I've looked at online later, after I shower, if you'd want."

"Okay. Sure." She suddenly realizes what she just agreed to. "Shit. We're really doing this, aren't we?"

"Trending in that direction, at the very least," Annie agrees. "And I'm trying not to freak out too much. Or get too scared."

"That makes two of us."

"Is it weird that I'm glad we're both nervous?"

"Nah. I'd be more worried if we weren't a little terrified, honestly."

Annie seems to release a bit more of her worry on her next exhale, and Britta's glad to see her shoulders drop and relax as she grabs her towel off the back of their bedroom door and walks to the bathroom.

Normally, Britta's not one to struggle with relaxing, especially on weekend mornings, but a rather troubling thought occurs to her, one she voices aloud:

"How much is buying an engagement ring gonna run me, and how fucked is my wallet gonna be afterwards?"

Her phone dings with a text...from Annie.

_Don't worry, babe, I'm not trying to send you to the poorhouse._

She snorts out a laugh at that, shouts, "Thanks, love!" back, and the knot of concern in her stomach loosens at the sound of Annie's laughter just before she gets in the shower.

Their Google searching together helps untie it further, and they could almost be back at Greendale, with Annie taking the lead on their research.

"So, I'm going for understated, quiet elegance, I think? Something crazy gaudy wouldn't be my style," she explains as she clicks the first couple of links from her Pinterest page.

"No, I'd figured that much out, at least," Britta notes.

"'Course you did, you know what I like," Annie murmurs affectionately. "And I definitely want moissanite because it's actually brighter and more reflective than diamond-it offers a better shine under lights. Plus it's lab-made, so no worries about wearing a blood diamond."

"Ooh, okay. I can appreciate that."

Britta points at the three links that are loading.

"Any one of these catch your fancy more than the others?"

Annie clicks on one of the tabs. "This one. The one where you can get tiny gemstones set to either side of the moissanite itself. I was thinking I could get topaz and citrine. November birthstones," she adds after Britta stares at her blankly for a second. "For our anniversary."

"That sounds amazing."

"Here, lemme see if I can-"

Annie pulls up a couple of drop-down menu options, inputs the gem types for the ones on the sides, and refreshes the page.

She positively glows as it pops up, but Britta can't restrain the fearful squeak that slips past her lips as she sees the price.

Annie winces a little. "Is that, like, a bit too much, or way too much?"

"It's…"

Britta considers the number again.

Is the idea of spending about $1,350 in one go somewhat horrifying, and enough to get her to reaffirm that Big Wedding, as an overall industry, is a scam?

Yes.

" _On the other hand...I can honestly afford that. Which is pretty badass, considering how long I used to live paycheck to paycheck. Or no paycheck to no paycheck. And if anyone in my life is worth that kind of money, it's Annie."_

So Britta shakes her head after a beat. "It's not."

Annie frowns. "It's not what?"

"It's not too much. Not for you, Annie. I'm not making you settle."

"Britta…" Annie breathes. "You'd do that? For me?"

She can't get the words out, so she just nods, and she's pretty damn sure from how Annie's kissing her that they won't need to look for any other rings for her.

They go to Garland's together two weeks later to browse.

Britta goes back by herself a month after that to buy.

**

She blows up her own plan, the one she'd talked through with Shirley, about popping the question after dinner, around 7:30 A.M. on a surprisingly mild mid-October day.

" _I'll be a mess if I wait around to do this, and anyway, the whole proposal over dessert thing feels a bit too traditional for us."_

Inspiration hits her between the eyes when her brain won't shut up.

She quietly, stealthily opens her bedside dresser drawer, retrieves the ring box from it, gets out of bed, and creeps out to their front closet to put it in her front coat pocket.

Britta mutters, "Don't fuckin' forget it's there, now," as a reminder to herself before she manages to snag another half-hour of fitful sleep.

**

"Do you remember when you, Troy, and Abed held that sort of intervention to keep me away from Blade? And you mentioned that we're not defined by our limitations, but by our potentials?" Britta asks Annie as they slowly meander through Meridian Hill Park on a post-brunch walk.

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, I thought of something that has the _potential_ ," she lingers on the word, "to make our lives better."

"Ooh, what is it?" Annie's face lights up as she starts guessing. "A new steam mop for cleaning our kitchen?" she ponders hopefully. "I know we talked about maybe getting one last weekend. Did you look up some prices, hon?"

Britta laughs. "No, it's something a little bigger than that." She strides a few steps ahead of Annie before whirling around to offer her a quick kiss.

"What's that for?"

"Because I love you, Annie," she replies softly, sliding a stray hair back from her girlfriend's face.

The realization registers in the back of her mind.

" _That could be the last time I ever call Annie my girlfriend. Or, it will be, if everything turns out the way I want it to."_

She goes on, trying to keep her voice steady, "I love you today, and I'll love you tomorrow."

Annie's wearing her soft, warm, affectionate smile-one of Britta's favorites-but she doesn't quite seem to get where this is headed.

"I love you too. And what about the day after tomorrow?" Annie asks, laughing, a bit of a teasing lilt to her voice.

"And the day after tomorrow," Britta confirms. She lets Annie lean against her, presses a kiss to her temple, and murmurs, "I'll love you forever if you gimme the chance."

Annie's coy smile will forever be her undoing. "Sounds great to me."

"Mm-mm." Britta shakes her head a tiny bit. "I'm looking for a specific answer to the question."

"Well, then...my answer is yes. I'll let you love me forever, Britta. Definitely."

She nods a couple of times, partially to Annie, but mostly to herself. She's been rocking on the edge of the diving board for a few minutes now. She's gotta jump.

She takes a deep breath. "Thanks, babe. Knowing that will make the next part way easier for me."

"Next part…?"

Annie's face transitions into a confused half-frown, but her eyes pop wide like a teardrop of ink from a ballpoint pen hitting crisp, white paper as Britta sinks to one knee and retrieves the ring box from her coat pocket with considerably more grace than she'd expected to display.

"This is the next part," she whispers theatrically-fucking Captain Obvious-before she remembers to smile, trying to keep it together.

Annie claps her hands to her mouth, her eyes blown wide in disbelief.

"Oh-oh my God-you're-"

Britta pries the box open so the ring is facing Annie properly (thanks for that tip, anonymous jewelers of the Internet), offers it up toward her with shaking hands, manages the tiniest breath of a laugh at her stammering.

"Yeah. I am. So, Annie...will you marry me?"

She's dead silent for a second and Britta's brain bolts back to Greendale's auditorium and "Jeff Winger, I love you," and Jeff running away and-

" _Yes_."

Britta forgets how to breathe for a second. Or two. Or three.

" _Yes_ , of course I'll marry you, Britta, a thousand times, yes," Annie adds in a fierce whisper, and Britta's not sure what happens next-it's a blur-if she's crying happy tears or if that's her favorite girl or both of them as Annie sinks to one knee herself and steals the air out of her lungs, first with a rib-crushing hug and then a blood-red kiss.

Britta fumbles a bit while sliding the ring onto her finger.

"If it's not exactly what you want-"

Annie cuts her off with a shake of her head and a fervently murmured, "Same as what I told you when we first looked at it online and when we went to Garland's, it's _perfect_ ," just before she presses her hands to either side of Britta's face to kiss her with a loud, echoing _smak_.

All the world's ambient sound comes rushing back-some of the other park-goers are applauding them-and the enormity of what they've just done hits Britta so suddenly, with such force, that she actually bursts out laughing for a second.

"What is it, love?" Annie asks, her gaze flickering back and forth from the gemstones circling the ring on her finger to Britta's eyes. This experience has created a whole new smile on her face and Britta wants to commit it to memory as soon as she can.

"It's just...holy shit," she whispers as they lean against each other, almost kissing again. "We're engaged, Annie."

"Yeah, Britta." Now she's laughing hysterically too, like she can't quite believe it, either, and repeats Britta's line, murmuring it against her lips. "We're engaged."

Britta giggles into their next kiss and she doesn't know when she'll stop feeling like she just guzzled a bottle of Fizzy Lifting Drink. She will at some point. Just not right now.

Which is why, after she and Annie end their latest kiss and get up from the ground, she raises both arms triumphantly and shouts to the rest of the park, "We're fuckin' engaged!"

Annie cracks up at that and doubles over, and most people in the park laugh and whoop at Britta's declaration. Except for a soccer mom who's clearly peeved by her language, judging by the nasty expression on her face.

"We should apologize," Annie mutters under her breath.

"Oh, c'mon, it doesn't even look like she has any kids around right now."

Nonetheless, Annie offers a conciliatory wave to the woman and a comment of, "Sorry, sorry, it's just…" she pauses for a second and then unexpectedly shouts, almost matching Britta's volume, "My fiancee and I are _fucking thrilled_ about this development in our lives!"

It's Britta's turn to laugh until her midsection hurts as Annie turns on her heel and they head out of the park.

"I still…" Annie shakes her head in amazement and regards the ring in near-equal shock. "We're-we're gonna be married."

"That _is_ typically why people get engaged, Annie."

"Oh, shut up," she responds playfully as she climbs in the passenger seat, then rescinds her words. "Actually, don't. I wanna hear _everything_ about this because I was honestly surprised. Like, I didn't see this coming."

"Do you mean getting engaged this specific way, getting engaged today, or both?"

"Both."

"Alright. So, there was a plan. But I sort of deviated from it because I think I would've gotten even more nervous if I had to wait all day to ask you to marry me after dinner," Britta confesses. "And I felt like asking you now will let the rest of our day be a celebration."

"Absolutely."

"Plus, I'd already been waiting for a while, I bought the ring about a month ago. And you mean so much to me, babe," Britta goes on. "In case you couldn't tell from the rock that's now on your finger."

"How'd you get my ring size? Was that from the jeweler?"

"Let's just say I got a little help from our friends. Abed, more specifically, since I asked him and Troy a while ago and-"

Annie gasps. "They wanted that info for their campaign I joined part-way through!"

"Bingo. I was so worried you were gonna look at my phone when he sent your character sheet from that game over."

Annie gives a precious "aww" before she comments, "You were thinking about doing this way back then?"

"Well, we _had_ talked about it a bit already. So I figured," she shrugs, "why not?"

"And here we are."

"Here we are," Britta agrees. "Was it…" Britta feels her face flush as she asks the question. "Was it everything you wanted?"

"Duh doy, babe," Annie answers, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips. "Of course it was. Because _you're_ everything I want. This is an incredible day, but also, it's just one day. Knowing I get you forever makes it all the better." She continues, "Because if you don't have an almost stupid amount of love for the person asking you to get engaged, like we do, then what's the point of agreeing to marry them?"

"Aww, Annie." Britta's blushing even more furiously now, but she doesn't care one bit, especially not when she thinks of the best possible follow-up note.

"I think I wanna have amazing celebration sex with my fine-as-hell _fiancee_ when we get home."

Annie's grin back at her is downright wolfish. "I think we can make that happen."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who’s read their way through any or all of this giant AU, left kudos, or commented! It’s still kinda surreal that the whole series started with that one little Annie/Britta moment of them checking each other out in S1E15, but here we are. Thanks again to everyone who joined this mess of a journey.

Annie's dreamt about the aftermath of a proposal, of course. Once upon a time, way back in the day, as a naively romantic teenager and early twenty-something. Her thoughts then had been on showing off the rock she'd gotten—whatever fantasy guy she'd constructed in her head didn't matter all that much. They'd be perfect, of course, but the ring—sparkling diamonds, at _least_ a full carat, practically visible from outer space—would be even _more_ perfect. The true star of the show.

Now, though, in real life, she finds that the ring's symbolism matters more to her than how it looks. That the person who gifted it to her can't possibly be removed from its importance.

" _Still, Britta totally got her money's worth,"_ she notes happily as she admires how the fluorescent lights in the forensics lab play off the gems. As she shares their engagement story with her coworkers and contemplates how to translate it into wedding-website-worthy copy.

Those details feel less significant than Annie once believed they would be. Probably because she's not trying to compensate for the lack of a partner by filling in the gaps of her life everywhere else. Not to mention, there's the little matter of work, and wedding-planning is, well, more work.

She manages to control her controlling tendencies at home, even if most of the updates from the florist and the photographer and the minister are going to her email and she's got spreadsheets for budgets and timelines and—

"Babe?"

Annie un-hunches herself, flexes her fingers.

"Hmm?"

"Can I see that, please?"

She nods, and Britta's gently, but insistently, tugging her laptop away from her for a second. A second she feels like she doesn't have, even though they're planning to wait a bit over a year and a half to save up for it.

Fortunately, Britta knows that. Knows her. Loves her. Simply asks, "What can I take off your plate?"

She's gotten incredibly skilled at taking Annie's manic, frantic energy and redirecting it, giving it a purpose, a direction.

Annie can't help but chuckle.

"What is it?"

"Just remembering how much we used to fight. Like with the save the pelicans fundraiser."

Britta groans and laughs, too. "We ended up raising a few hundred dollars for a good cause."

"Only because we basically started mud-wrestling in an oil slick," Annie points out.

"Hey, all's fair in charity work. And if I remember that day right, someone said she'd only kissed Jeff because she wanted to be cool and sexy like me, so…"

Britta offers a hammed-up, exaggerated wink.

"You're _such_ a nerd," Annie murmurs, but she's happy to lean up against her fiancee, just the same.

"A nerd you agreed to marry," Britta quips as she scrolls through the Google spreadsheet Annie's created. "And I'm apparently marrying a damn Excel wizard. Jesus. Thanks for putting this together, Annie."

"You're welcome. It's been a bit challenging, at times, so thanks for noticing."

She presses a quick kiss to Britta's lips before turning her attention back to the screen.

"Now, in terms of what you can do. Thoughts on reaching out to the venues and DJs we've looked up already?" she offers hopefully.

"On it. Is it cool if I share this to my Google Drive?"

"Go for it."

"And...done."

Britta shoots her a satisfied smile before she says, "Feel free to lemme know if I need to get my act together with anything, or if there's time-sensitive stuff I've gotta get done."

Annie gives her a look for a second. Takes her laptop back. Closes it as she sidles up to Britta.

"Trust me, Britta...I'll definitely boss you around if I need to."

She doesn't think about budgets or schedules at all for a good half hour or so after that.

**

Britta's always known wedding dress shopping would be her least favorite part of the marriage prep process.

She remembers Annie's excited texts from when she'd found her dress a couple weekends ago, how Annie had called her to shout, "I know what I'm gonna wear when we're getting married!"

Nothing's made Britta feel that way so far, and she can't tell if something's wrong with the store or with her.

She sighs as she changes out of her latest option, as she and her consultant, Max, go back to the floor for what she's thinking might be another fruitless hunt.

"Would you want something simpler?" she suggests.

Britta shrugs. "Sorry," she apologizes, "I'm not trying to be difficult. It's just—nothing's really speaking to me _,_ if that makes sense?"

"Of course," Max assures her. "You don't want to feel like you're wearing a dress that's meant for someone else."

"Yes, exactly! I…"

One of the other bridal associates passing by catches Britta's eye. Or, more specifically, what she's wearing—a smartly tailored—gers her attention.

"I might turn things in a totally different direction than what we've looked at so far, if that's possible."

Max nods and smiles. "Certainly. What's on your mind?"

"Do you carry suits for brides here, Max?"

She wonders if she's committed some weird bridal faux pas until Max beams at her. "We do."

She whisks them over to another section of the store, gives Britta a once-over before speaking.

"Based on what you've told me so far, let's try a modern twist on some old classics," she advises. "Something sleek and slim fit, but not too tight. Unless you're thinking of something else?"

Britta shakes her head. "That general idea sounds good to me."

After completing a few quick measurements, Max jots down her new notes, and she and Britta pull a couple of options to start.

"You said Annie will be in a white dress, so let's get you mostly in white to match," Max mutters to herself. "Oh, and the suits we're looking at come with vests if you'd want one, Britta."

In her mind's eye, she pictures her get-up when she, Jeff, and Annie revolted against Frankie and "clandestinely" constructed the speakeasy in the basement. Sees her then-girlfriend pouring a dirty martini into her open, eager mouth and murmuring, "Wanna get a taste of my drink from you." Remembers how Annie had grabbed her by the front of her bartending vest to pull her in for a sloppy kiss, breaking their little rule about not committing excessive PDA in front of the group.

Britta blows out a breath as she comes back from her daydream. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll definitely take the vest. Thanks, Max."

"Okay, I'll make sure to get that in black to help the rest of your outfit pop. Be back in a sec!"

They take her new choices back to her dressing room, and Max notes, with a light laugh, "It'll be a sight easier for you to get in and out of these compared to pretty much any wedding dress we have in stock. I'll be waiting outside."

Britta offers her a grateful smile. "Thanks."

It's the fourth or fifth time she's gotten changed.

It's the first time she feels comfortable. The first time she well and truly feels like herself.

Max gives her a knowing nod as they walk out to the little staging area where her friends are waiting, and after getting a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror, Britta knows.

"This is it, for sure. This is what I'm wearing during the ceremony."

Once the cheering from her friends dies down, Max comments, "Great! Did you still want to look at casual party dresses for the reception?"

"Ooh, yes. Just a minute…"

She snaps a few pictures of herself to save, remembers not to attach them in her eternally active message chain with Annie, then texts her, _Guess who had a successful shopping trip! Plus I'm getting a surprise for you._

Annie's reply comes back about five minutes later. _Omfg I can't wait to see! AND a surprise?! Wanna gimme a hint?_

Britta chuckles to herself as she replies. _Nope. I've fallen for that too many times. You're too clever for your own good._

_Pleeeease?_

_Not budging on this one,_ Britta answers as she blows by her bridal budget.

"But that's fine," she mutters to herself as she exits the store with her purchase number and relevant information for her suit and dress pickup already in her email. "After all, we're only planning to do this once."

**

Annie's still not quite sure how she's ended up here.

 _Here_ being her and Britta's living room, putting the finishing touches on her little homemade present a few days before their wedding.

" _And Britta said I'd never have use for multi-colored pens after leaving Greendale,"_ she thinks smugly as she finishes the last bit; with how crazy the next few days will undoubtedly be, she wants to have it done.

As expected, everything's a blur. She knows she ate food at the rehearsal dinner, knows she and Britta both managed to get through their familial interactions with minimal pain and only a bit of awkwardness, knows all their favorites are undoubtedly enjoying a little bit of an after-party in the hotel bar.

In the quiet of their hotel room, Annie finally relaxes. Finds herself in the present. With Britta, where she belongs.

Britta's reading, surprisingly—she'd brought _Beartown_ with her—like it might be any other night, and the sight helps Annie unwind further, helps quiet the nerves rattling around in her mind.

She retrieves her little gift from her overnight bag and settles next to Britta on the bed.

"What's this?" Britta asks, bemusement playing in her voice as Annie hands her a small journal.

"Open it and find out."

She does, starts scanning the first page, and Annie glows with pride when she hears her breath hitch.

"You—is this—you wrote—"

She cuts off Britta's stammering with a gentle kiss and a nod. "Yep. I wrote all of this."

"You—you mapped out the biggest points in our history together. Our story. With exact dates _,"_ Britta breathes, clearly stunned.

"I had some of my old journals to reference, and Greendale, shockingly enough, archives all their old academic calendars online, so that helped."

"How long did this take you?"

Annie shrugs. "I'm honestly not sure, since I did it a little bit at a time. I started maybe a month or so after we got engaged, when I started developing timelines for bookings and activities and whatnot. This kinda," she flings her hands up, "spawned when it hit me just how long we've been together."

"This is incredible," Britta murmurs, then laughs as she reads, "Considered each other as sexual prospects...babe, oh my God, your notes in the margins for some of the dates!"

"I honestly don't remember some of the annotations I included for the early sections, but I wanted to capture what I was feeling in the moment, if the memories were clear enough," Annie comments, leaning in to look at where Britta's pointing.

_It's not weird that I think Britta's pretty, is it? It's not weird that I kinda get why Jeff's into her, is it?_

Britta's beaming at her just before she whispers, "For the record, no, it's not weird that you think I'm pretty."

"I'd hope not," Annie laughs. "And at that point, I still didn't really know I was crushing on you. I thought it was just, like, the atmosphere when Jeff commented about the sexual prospects thing."

Britta sniffles, gives her a watery smile as she flips the page. "Shit, Annie, this is—this is such an amazing gift. Getting to kinda relive everything and see what happened through your eyes. We're gonna have to read some of this together sometime."

Annie nods serenely. "I'd love that."

"And since we're apparently doing presents tonight…"

Britta kicks the sheets off, swings her legs out of bed, and retrieves a small box from her travel bag.

"You know the wedding tradition of getting the bride something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I think I might've screwed it up a bit because I combined all those into one thing."

Annie crinkles her nose at that. "What do you mean, combined all of them?"

The box is in her hands as she finishes her question, and Britta responds quietly.

"You know that silver necklace I've had forever?"

"Sure. Why?"

Britta glances down at the box once more, then looks back up at Annie, and the penny drops.

She yanks the lid off the box, sees, as promised, Britta's silver necklace with a topaz pendant added to it.

"Britta," she gasps. "You already got me the ring, you didn't have to—"

Britta's shaking her head and leaning in to kiss her negation away. "Don't care. I did. I—I wanted you to have something of mine to wear tomorrow. If it goes with your dress, if you'd be—"

"Yes," Annie promises, forcing the word out of her mouth as quickly as she can so she can repeat it. "Yes, absolutely."

She carefully places it back in the box, closes it, and tucks it in her own bag, then returns to the bed to kiss Britta with practiced ease, to make certain every bit of her affection comes across as a decision and a vow.

"We should probably try to get some sleep," she suggests, despite her strong desire to do otherwise.

"Yeah," Britta agrees.

Engaging in their usual "getting ready for bed" rituals together makes their situation less surreal. They could simply be on vacation in a hotel, not on the verge of getting married in well under twenty-four hours.

Britta yawns as she rolls over. "Night, Annie. Love you."

"Love you, too, Britta."

"You better. Gonna legally be all yours after tomorrow," Britta murmurs affectionately, and Annie's hard-pressed to consider a better sentiment to hear as she drapes one arm over Britta's shoulder.

**

They both wake up a good fifteen minutes before their alarms are due to go off.

"M-morning," Britta mumbles as she clutches Annie closer to her for a second. She knows they'll have to get up soon, figures the adrenaline will kick in eventually, but for now, she's content.

Annie's reply of, "Mornin', darlin," is just as sleepy. "Wanna go down and grab some breakfast before everything starts?"

Britta nods, stumbles blindly out of bed.

It hits both of them in the elevator.

"What?" Britta asks as Annie keeps sneaking little glances at her; she's definitely doing it, too.

"You know."

Britta grins. "I do. Oh, jeez, I wasn't even going for that pun."

Annie leans against her, interlocks their fingers. "Happy to hear it, just the same."

They eat in relative peace and quiet until Britta brings up one point that's been wriggling around inside her head.

"Is it just me, or does today feel like less of a big deal than it should be?"

Annie frowns a little. "How do you mean?"

Britta takes a bite of her pancake, trying to figure out how to best frame her thoughts.

"It's kinda like you said when we got engaged. It's just one day. Am I fucking thrilled about marrying you? Yeah, definitely," she reassures Annie. "But the rest of everything that comes after it, of being committed to you...that's never been in question. I've always known we'd keep doing that."

Annie's expression clears up at that and she beams. "I agree. You've been my person for so long now. And even if we weren't getting married, that wouldn't change."

They go back up to their room, and toss their casual "getting ready" clothes on for their trips to their respective stylists.

"So…" Annie hefts her bag up on her shoulder. "See you at our first look, then."

"Yeah."

Britta leans down, gives her a quick peck. Or tries to.

She's never been very good at keeping herself behaved, especially around Annie, so why start now?

"I love you," she whispers, wishing she knew exactly how many times she's said it, just to mark it off as the last one before their wedding officially starts.

Annie's voice comes out shaky, but her own "I love you, too," helps Britta's pulse settle.

That's how she's known, all these years. They have excitement, sure, but the steadiness of home, of being able to rely on each other, lies underneath it all.

**

"You look badass in that suit. Good choice. Annie's gonna love it."

Britta raises her tiny glass of whiskey neat toward Jeff in appreciation.

"Thanks for this, by the way," she tells him as she tosses back the final sip.

"No problem. Figured you could use a little something while we get ready."

She lifts her eyebrows. "We?"

"I'm giving the outline for my totally awesome man of honor speech one final review. Gonna hit all the right notes," he comments confidently. "Humor, sentimentality, inside jokes that are still relatable to less familiar audiences, et cetera."

"So you're actually making an effort for this, then?" Britta quips.

Jeff rolls his eyes at her. "Yes, I suppose you and Annie deserve it. And I also guess that your wedding is worthy of my time and extensive talent as an orator."

"See, it doesn't kill you to admit you care about me," she teases him when there's a knock at the door of their room.

It's Jen, their lead photographer, and she snaps a handful of "getting ready" photos with Jeff and Britta before she tells Britta, "Ready to take your first look photos with Annie?"

She nods, wills her legs to work as she walks from their little side room to the main floor.

She can't help but gasp at the site of it now that it's been fully prepped. She and Annie had wanted a unique space, and a former church turned concert hall in uptown D.C. definitely qualified.

"So, we're going to arrange the two of you on either side of this pillar," Jen explains. "We're having you get set up here first as a bit of a reversal for the ceremony, since Annie will be coming out first for that."

"Sounds good."

"I've got a couple other people from my team here to get individual photos of the two of you for this part of your day," Jen comments as Britta adjusts her suit jacket. "Plus, we've got a videographer here. Someone you know, actually, who's helping us out."

She grins and turns to her right, and Britta follows her gaze to…

"Abed!"

He comes over, offers her a warm hug and his classic small smile and finger guns.

"Snazzy outfit you've got, Britta. Very cool. Annie should be out any minute."

"Great," she answers, trying to keep her nerves somewhat in check. "Thank you so much for doing this."

He nods. "Anything for you two." He retreats a few steps, enough to get a wide shot of the whole scene, then calls to her, "Oh, but if you can, as a favor for me, tell Annie not to—"

"Jim for the camera," she completes his sentence, laughing slightly at Jen's clear confusion. "I'll try to remember to remind her."

Someone else on Jen's team takes a couple photos of her, but she's not paying all that much attention, and she very nearly botches the whole set-up by turning to look when she can hear the _click-clack_ of high heels approaching the other side of the pillar she's leaned up against.

She sees Jen nod, and she knows Annie's there before she hears her voice.

"Hi, Britta."

"Hi, Annie."

One of the other photographers motions at her to reach her left hand out to the side, so she does, and she's rewarded with Annie's hand catching hers, squeezing it tight.

"So…" Britta blows out a deep breath. "This is it."

Her brain fires off a random warning, and she blurts, "Shit, that sounded ominous, I'm sorry—oh, fuck—" she steals a glance at the photographers, "is it okay that I just swore—"

Annie's laughter—her real, loud, nearly-braying laugh, not the fake, polite one she'd use when Craig dropped a particularly bad pun—calms her some, as does Abed calling, "This is real, Britta. This is good. Don't worry."

"It's fine," Annie reassures her, gently rubbing circles over the back of her hand with her thumb, and her touch soothes her further. "Let's go with...here we are."

"Here we are," Britta repeats, nodding to herself. "You and me and nobody else, Annie."

"Thanks for choosing me, Britts. And choosing to be mine."

"Easiest and best choices I've ever made," she confirms just before Jen calls, "Alright, let's have you two spin out from each side so you can see each other."

"Wanna do it on three?" Annie suggests.

"Sure."

She grips Annie's hand a tiny bit tighter as they count together. "One, two, three."

They spin out together, still holding hands.

She can't tell which gasp is louder, hers or Annie's, and her previous declarations of _"I'm too cool to cry at my own wedding"_ go out the fucking window when Annie starts blinking back stunned, happy tears.

" _Annie,"_ she breathes out, bringing a trembling hand to her face to wipe away her tears, and Annie's dabbing at her eyes for her, too, with a tissue, and the gesture itself is almost too much. "I knew you'd be beautiful," she whispers, "but oh my God. I—I…"

She groans; she's not the best at articulating thoughts when her mind is fully operational, let alone when it's been wiped clean by the sight of her bride-to-be, decked out in what is, by Britta's estimation, a surprisingly modern dress—sleeveless, V-cut to the chest, floor-length, but without a super long train. Her hair's been tousled, obviously blown out for extra volume, but the style suits her, highlights her beauty and heightens it without making her look like any other woman on her wedding day.

"I don't have words, either, Britta," Annie whispers back. "I'd tried to picture what you'd look like, but everything came up so, so short. You're—you're glowing. You're beyond gorgeous."

She nearly dissolves into tears again at that, but then Annie's leaning in close.

" _This particular kiss might be a tad messy,"_ Britta admits to herself, _"but then again, so are we."_

"You better not only be wearing this suit today. Because you're hot as fuck in it," Annie murmurs against her lips as they break apart, and Britta nearly cackles, hears the cameras snap, knows they're capturing her laugh and Annie's smile as she thinks, _"This is my favorite moment of the day."_

She shakes her head at Annie. "Don't worry, I bought it outright."

Annie grins at her, pulls her in for a tight hug and another kiss, and Britta revises her previous statement.

" _This is my favorite moment of the day_ _so far._ _"_

She's thrilled they have such great photographers to capture everything, along with Abed to get their first look footage on video, though they're sure to tell him he's not at all obligated to do anything but enjoy himself for the rest of the day and night. Still, it's all a mashed-up blur, and before she knows it, Britta's in the back of the building, waiting to walk down the aisle with Jeff by her side.

"Still breathing?" he asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good," she answers, though her smile feels the tiniest bit tight. "It's just surreal. How some moments went by in a flash and others are, like, running in slow-motion in my head. And thinking about our whole journey to get here...it's kinda insane, right?"

"Well, let's see," Jeff comments, pretending to consider her question, and despite how Britta sometimes carps, she'll always love his easy use of sarcasm. "A blonde ex-anarchist and a brunette perfectionist join a study group run by a conniving disgraced lawyer at a community college, and now they're a few minutes away from getting married. Yeah, that'spretty nuts."

"So you mean you haven't been in any previous weddings with two brides and three men of honor?" Britta jokes.

Jeff laughs at that. "Can't say I have. Not to mention, I kissed both brides in a previous life."

" _And_ on top of that, we have two short-lived engagements between us. Plus, all the guys and girls in the wedding party have kissed," Britta answers smartly.

Jeff gives a start at that. "Wait, so you and Abed…?"

"Made out in the study room freshman year, when we were sleep-deprived after finishing that disaster of a Spanish paper."

"And Troy and Annie…?"

"Shared a friendly kiss as part of a game in the Dreamatorium."

"Huh."

The two of them can't help but shake their heads and laugh together in amazement at the matter-of-factness to her zany summaries.

"What a long, strange trip it's been," Jeff muses. "But I wouldn't wanna be on it with any other group of people."

"Same," Britta nods, glad for the slight distraction from her nerves.

"So…" Jeff tilts his head up toward the ceremony space as her introductory music swells. "You ready? You know Annie's always a stickler for punctuality."

She takes a deep breath, nods again. "I am. And Jeff?"

"Hmm?"

"Love you."

"Love you, too, Britta. Now…" he grins and offers her his arm. "Let's get you hitched, yeah?"

She threads her arm through his and grins back. "Fuck, yeah."

**

Annie still can't quite believe she has a wife.

" _Or, okay, I'm_ _about_ _to have a wife in another fifteen minutes or so,"_ she corrects herself, because her mind refuses to harbor even minor discrepancies.

For once, it shuts the fuck up, and she didn't even need to mentally bark out any orders.

No, that's because Britta's walking down the aisle with Jeff on her arm, but with eyes for no one but her the entire way there.

She's not sure if she'll ever get over how incredible Britta looks in her suit, but she's fine with that.

And finally, after she and Jeff arrive, after Jeff gives them both a hug and a quietly murmured, "Love you two" and steps back to the side, with Troy and Abed, they're together.

Britta catches her hands. "Hey, you."

Annie smiles up at her. "Hey, you."

Their officiant brings his hands together, nods at the pair of them, then gestures out to everyone else.

"Welcome to all of you who've come to share in this important moment in Annie and Britta's lives. I ask you to join together in celebrating, acknowledging, and honoring this day and the vows they'll be making…"

Annie's paying attention, she hears words, but she's having a bit of an out-of-body experience until...

"Annie and Britta have written their own vows, so I'll turn things over to them."

He passes the microphone over to Annie.

She takes one final deep breath to try and steady her voice before she starts.

"Um, this isn't exactly a traditional vow exchange. I'm delivering more of a Winger speech."

None of the other four people with her up front can hold back their laughter, and she's pretty sure she hears her other Greendale companions—Shirley, Chang, Frankie, Craig, and Elroy, among a few others—chuckling in the general audience, too, and the sounds get her to relax.

"If you know me well, you know I used to idolize faerie tale love. The kind where a brave and honorable knight rescues a damsel in distress and they live happily ever after because that's their destiny," Annie begins. "But there's no real work involved in those stories. And that's what I've learned love is, sometimes." She shoots Britta a shy grin and addresses her directly. "That's what you've taught me, Britta."

She's glad Britta's tiny, proud smile makes her mind go on the fritz a little, because otherwise she'd be thinking way too hard about how to breathe, and having a bride choke on air at her own wedding probably isn't the best look.

She continues, "You've taught me that love is at its best, its most powerful, its most passionate, when it's an active verb. Whether that's splurging on Regina Spektor concert tickets for you and rearranging my schedule to go, or helping each other recover from panic or anxiety attacks."

She pauses for a beat, makes sure her thoughts are all on track, and resumes.

"I've learned that love isn't just made up of the big Disney moments. Those are important, sure, but it's all the little ones in between that truly solidify and sanctify a bond. And we've shared so many through these past seven years of dating and nine years of knowing each other that I'm not sure I can count them all." She steals a glance at Britta, then confesses, "But I _am_ sure that I couldn't have shared them with anyone else. That I wouldn't _want_ to share them with anyone else."

Thank God for setting spray, because there's no way either one of them will make it through this without crying as she steps forward to clasp Britta's hands with her own after Troy passes her the ring. She can hear Britta's breathing, swears she can hear her heartbeat as she whispers, "So, Britta."

They both grin at the callback to how Britta had started her proposal question before she continues.

"With this ring, I promise that, whether there are a thousand, a hundred thousand, or a million ways to show and tell someone that you love them, I'm looking forward to us discovering as many of them as we can together."

Annie stops talking as she slides the ring onto Britta's finger and, once she does, adds, "I love you, Britta Perry. Forever."

Britta's trying not to outright sob because Annie is kind of the most beautiful soul she's ever had the good fortune to meet and she's still stunned that this is happening.

That they're about to finish up their wedding ceremony.

That Annie just said those wonderful words about _her_ , that Annie's about to become her _wife._

Annie takes a step back, and the officiant turns to Britta, nods, and gestures that she can begin her piece.

She collects herself after a second and jokes, "Well, I wish I would've offered to deliver the first of our speeches back when we were wedding planning, since I'm not sure I can top that, but I'll try."

She goes on, "To be honest, the idea of committing fully to one person in marriage used to terrify me. I hadn't ever known anyone that seemed worth that effort, and frankly, I didn't think I warranted such devoted attention and care, myself. That is, until I started dating Annie." She shoots her a small smile. "Because she has this habit of making you believe you deserve happiness, but she also gets you to strive for it. So I started striving to be a good enough person to be with her, and I haven't ever really stopped."

Annie's literally her blushing bride right now and Britta stops to admire just how gorgeous she looks, then keeps speaking.

"And that's taught me, to sort of carry on from Annie's point, that love is a choice," she comments. "It's choosing someone, over and over, on their good and bad days and everything in between. It's choosing to sacrifice. It's choosing to make dinner out of leftovers instead of ordering the vegetarian lasagna from Romero's to-go...again." Annie giggles at that; the Italian spot has become one of Britta's food weaknesses ever since she moved to D.C.

"It's me choosing to help you study for your FBI promotional exams at 11 PM. And if it sounds like I've settled down into a bit of a homebody, believe me, I'm surprised about that, too."

Britta gets a few laughs for her admission, then qualifies the statement.

"But I'm still a radical in this one, small way, at least."

She continues, stumbling over her words a bit as she eats up Annie's adoring gaze, "In a—in a world that often encourages us to choose hate, and cynicism, and bitterness, I think waking up and choosing to love someone every day is one of the most rebellious things you can do."

Mirroring Annie's previous move, she steps forward and takes her hands with her own, at the officiant's instructions, once Jeff passes her the ring.

"And with this ring, I promise to share that particular rebellion with you for the rest of my life," she murmurs softly as she slips it onto Annie's finger. "I love you, Annie Edison. Today, tomorrow, and always."

Annie's on the verge of starting a kiss lean when she catches herself, and the officiant smiles at her eagerness before he delves into his closing remarks.

"Today, you've pledged yourselves to a lifetime of caring for each other. May this be a cherished commitment, made in love and renewed every day, as you become each other's home and refuge."

"We already are," Britta can't help but murmur under her breath, just loudly enough for Annie to hear, and she beams at the observation, inclines her head the tiniest bit in agreement.

"Now, by the power vested in me by Washington, D.C., I'm honored to pronounce the two of you married. You may seal your union with a kiss."

They've practiced this before, just to avoid any bit of impropriety, but it still lasts a couple seconds longer than they'd planned.

"We just did that," Annie comments in wonder, half-breathless as she and Britta link arms for their walk out to the back of the hall, to applause all around, before they come back for family pictures.

"We sure fuckin' did," Britta replies, grinning the whole way, loving how Annie leans against her for a couple of steps.

The family pictures aren't too horribly awkward—they've both made as much peace as they can with their screwed-up pasts.

They're both way more thrilled, though, when that part of the day ends. When they board the party bus to go around D.C. getting pictures with all their favorites—not just their little wedding party of Troy, Abed, and Jeff, but Shirley, Frankie, Chang, and Craig, too.

Their true family, in other words.

The one featuring Troy and Abed rapping "Promiscuous" back and forth to each other when it comes up on the playlist while she and Annie take slugs of Brut straight from the bottle. The one where Frankie and Craig are cracking up at some awful joke Chang just made and it's making Britta laugh into her latest kiss with her wife. She hears Jeff groan, "Get a room," while Shirley coos, "Aww," and Annie replies, "Thanks, Shirley," before gesticulating at Jeff with a half-empty bag of Lays (shoutout to Frankie for reminding them to get snacks).

"Jeff," she shouts over the music, giddy on champagne and adrenaline, "if you ever have the good luck to marry someone as amazing and gorgeous as Britts, then you'll get why I can't keep my hands or mouth off her right now, okay?"

Jeff shakes his head at them in exasperation as he gulps down more Fat Tire, but Britta can see a smile playing on his lips, just the same, before she turns her attention back to Annie.

Like she's been doing for damn close to a decade now.

Like she's gonna be doing for decades to come, if she has anything to say about it.

**

They don't spend too long taking photos around D.C.—honestly, the candid ones that Abed snaps on the bus might be their favorites—before they return to the reception hall, where they enter, in true dork fashion, to DJ Kool, with a timely "POP POP!" from Magnitude.

They mingle a good deal, checking in on old friends and colleagues and family members, but everyone's polite enough to give them time to actually eat after the speeches from their wonderful collection of best men.

"And now, for our couple's first dance," the DJ announces, "followed by cake-cutting."

"Can't wait to hear what you chose, babe," Britta tells her as they get to their feet.

"Wait, so Annie was in charge of a surprise?" Abed asks from their head table. "And she relinquished control of a major project to you?" He frowns.

"We picked three songs that could be our openers," Britta answers, "but I didn't wanna know what exactly it was. Plus, I _do_ have surprisingly good event management skills. Remember Shirley's wedding?"

"And now you're my wonderful wedding curator," Annie praises her, both of them laughing at her line just before the opening guitar riff and drum beat hits.

Britta nearly squeals.

"I wanted you to choose this one!"

"Well, I _hope_ I'd know my wife well enough to pick the best song for our first dance," Annie replies smugly, and it's all Britta can do to not give her a completely inappropriate kiss in front of everyone.

She settles for leaning in close, for swaying slowly with Annie.

"Say it again."

She's beyond soft. Often outright whipped.

She doesn't care—Annie looks thrilled to play along, anyway, and she drops her voice low in response.

"You're my wife, Britta."

"That's not a sentence I ever thought I'd hear from you in any timeline, but I'm so glad I get to," Britta murmurs. "So glad you're mine, Annie."

Annie nods along, and then they're both nodding along to the song's beat, to the opening lyrics of _I don't like anyone better than you, it's true._

And it might be lame as hell for Britta to admit that she's still impressed by how Annie can rap, but she's pretty cool with being a dork these days, and she lets herself get lost in studying the movement of Annie's lips as she enunciates every line:

_The world is a curse,_

_It'll kill if you let it,_

_I know they got pills that can help you forget it,_

_They bottle 'em, call that med-i-cine,_

_But I don't need drugs._

"You're pretty fly for a nerd from Greendale," Britta whispers, and she wants to memorize the way Annie's face is lit up just before they sing, _"Cuz I'm already high enough,"_ together.

The song progresses til its jangling guitar riff fades out a bit at the bridge, replaced by a prom-esque chord strumming that pushes everything else to the background, and she thinks that's appropriate, because she and Annie might as well be the only ones here now.

 _"Don't try to gimme cold water, I don't wanna sober up,"_ Annie breathes.

For the merest second, the lyrics send Britta flashing back to their first ever kiss, way back in the day in apartment 303, when they were still the tiniest bit buzzed on that couch. On that Friday night. When she got mildly addicted to the tart tanginess of cherry lemonade on Annie's tongue, when she started letting herself daydream about a potential first date on the drive home.

She thanks the universe for keeping their timeline intact, because now, looking into Annie's blue doe eyes, it feels natural to softly sing, " _All I see are tomorrows—oh, the stars were made for us."_

"They really were," Annie agrees, her voice gentle, just before she's pulling Britta down closer to her as the drum kick comes back, and she's helpless to do anything but follow, to do anything but dip Annie low and kiss her to whoops of excitement (and a wolf whistle from Jeff, of course) from everyone around them.

Britta remembers the one track she'd forgotten to add to the playlist about halfway through the night, and she picks her way through the crowded dance floor, toward the DJ booth.

She glances away from her laptop screen, over to Britta, before sliding a piece of paper and a pen toward her. "Got a request?"

She scribbles the song on the first clean line, about halfway down the page of the notebook. "Can you make sure this gets played sometime tonight, please?" she shouts.

The DJ takes a look at it, grins, puts a star next to the title. "The bride gets priority. Or brides, in this case. Congrats. I'll put your song on after the next one."

"Thank you!"

Britta shoots her a couple of finger guns without thinking.

" _God, I've spent way too much time with Abed over the years."_

The DJ just laughs, though, and Britta goes to find Annie—they'd taken a bit of a breather from dancing to just sit, grab waters, and people-watch.

She's got her Cheshire cat grin on now, though, much as she tries to hide it.

Annie sees through her, anyway.

"Why do I get the feeling you did something?" she asks, suspicion laced in her voice.

"What could I have _done_ in a wedding reception, Annie?" she sasses back.

Annie shrugs, lets it go through "Be My Baby" before the opening drum beats of "Dance, Dance" start. Her foot starts tapping along, and Britta watches her eyes pop wide, watches her remember.

"I—you—us—the Valentine's Day dance! Freshman year! You taught me how to thrash to this!" Annie finally blurts out.

Britta laughs. "There it is." She gets to her feet, offers Annie her hand. "C'mon, babe."

Annie leads her in swing dance steps before pulling her close, before telling her, "I—I was starting to fall for you a tiny bit by then."

"I was, too," Britta concedes. "A little."

Annie gasps and looks up at her, her blue eyes sparkling. "You were?"

"Yeah," Britta nods. "That night, at the dance—at first, I just thought you were cute. But when you started rocking out, I—I caught a glimpse of this other side of you. And my mind kinda went, huh, I'm interested."

Annie blushes at that as she comments, "I wish my thought process had been that in depth."

Britta presses herself closer to her, presses her for more information. "What were you thinking?"

Annie's face reddens even further. "That you were stupid hot."

"Well," Britta comments as she spins Annie and extends her arm out before pulling her back in, "look how far we've come since then."

"Who would've thought?" Annie asks, beaming at her.

Britta's about to reply, but then she figures, _"It's like Patrick Stump says—she's no good with words, but I'm worse."_

And answering Annie's question with a kiss feels like a way better use of their mouths, anyway.

**

The biggest surprise, truly, is how little their lives change after they're married.

Save for one or two significant moments.

Like when Britta's buying Starbucks for the two of them the morning after and signs her new name—Britta Perry-Edison—with a flourish, hooking the loop of her "y" into the "E," and she catches Annie staring at it, wearing her softest smile.

When they go out for dinner one night on their honeymoon, Annie does the same, scribbling her signature —Annie Edison-Perry—on the check, seamlessly attaching the upward curve of her cursive "n" to the uppercase "P."

Britta can't help but grin at the sight. Feels her pulse race as she studies it, as she realizes their names are fully linked. Completely interconnected.

Like nearly everything with them, it feels right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to all you wonderful readers! I might tack on a little “slices of life” past-present-future drabble fic to this series, but for all intents and purposes, I’m ending it here. Definitely still gonna write more standalone Annie/Britta fics in the future, though. I really adore how much there is to work with in their relationship/friendship.


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